Naval surface ship smuctures are still designed d@terministically
according to working stiess formats. Structural
safety is quantified by the margin between the applied load
and the capacity of the structure, which is measured by the
safety factor. Since these formats use only one safety
factor, they lack the flexibility to adjust thm prescribed
safety margin in order to account for factors which are
criticaI in design, such as variability in the strength, loads,
likelihood of load combinations, and uncertainties in
structural analysis. As a result, these deterministic methods
may yield designs whose components have inconsistent
reliability levels.
Moreover, current design criteria